Nihonkoku Shoukan: Beyond

Chapter 46: The Song of the War Maiden

Ramstein Training Base, Reitzenberg Province, Gra Valkas Empire, 12th March 1640 CCY

The mountain range of Ramstein is usually not a place where you'd find much excitement, other than the occasional train passing. It is a quiet place. For thousands of years, not much happened until the people started to construct the pathway that connects the northern part of the Reitzenberg province to the south, then widened it to accommodate the big carriages and eventually, automobiles, and a new rail line a few hundred years later. It is a treacherous place. An almost impenetrable wall that cut the province in half.

Yet here, the military of the Gra Valkas Empire found a place untainted by their fellow citizens. It is a perfect place for them to test out their metal without prying eyes and dissecting every minute detail. From the first of their Panzer, the fearsome armored beast, to the powerful and accurate long-range artillery. Of course, aircraft is not out of the question. Today, they are testing out a new aircraft, but the catch is, it's not their to dissect.

VROOOOOOOMMMMM...!

A guttural sound can be heard by everyone standing on the ground, watching four birds of prey zigzagging across the sky. Skillfully maneuvering around in their birds of prey, the four pilots in the sky duke it out between themselves, showing the masterclass of aerobatics and airmanship.

"Damn it, Oberleutnant, they are behind us!" – Leon

"Yeah, I know! Weave in! I'll try to cross their path and distract them!" – Ernest

"Got it!" – Leon

The two Aldebaran split up, with one making a turn to the right, and the other turning to the left. On board the Python, the two Japanese pilots are watching their prey intensely.

"Looks, Miyuki, they are trying to lure us into a Thach Weave~ how cute." – Arisa

"Mhm. The antenna thingies at the front of the lead Aldebaran is an early radar just like I thought. The decoys work perfectly, and they don't have the look-down capabilities." – Miyuki

"You know, I was quite surprised when you told me to break the hard deck. Are you still drunk from all of those wines from yesterday?" – Arisa

"I'm fine. Just so you know, the Medikit scrubbed out all of the alcohol, but I didn't drink any cause I had to drive everyone back. Now, let's show them what we got. I'll go low, you go between them." – Miyuki

"Yes Ma'am~ I'll draw all the attention to myself." – Arisa

With that, the two Python split up, with Arisa pushing her throttle forward on full burn, chasing one of the Aldebaran. The two Gra Valkan pilots seeing her in their cockpit mirrors immediately split their wide formation, with one trying to be as flashy as possible to get the attention of Arisa. And he'll get the full attention of her.

"I got her on my six, Oberleutnant, now do that pilot thing!" – Leon

"Keep on that, I'm twisting in!" – Ernest

The three pilots are now locked in a duel, with one Python chasing an Aldebaran while being chased by another Aldebaran. Eventually, Leon's Aldebaran is forced to go below the hard deck and fly through the twisting canyon. To be chosen as a pilot for the new Aldebaran, it's not so easy. All pilots who are chosen must be those with certain pedigree and must achieve the rank of triple ace at least due to the slow production rate of the SNE 245. Moving about in the unpredictable curve of the canyon is a hard thing to do, but the pilots have memorized perfectly the topography of the region. Still... it's a very dangerous thing to do. Pulling high g-turns and enduring the whole fight is much more complicated and hard than what propaganda can ever tell, even with the g-suits helping them from getting g-loc. All the while, the pilots must have good and constant reaction time, tactical thinking, and endurance, not to mention the strong physique that's required for all service members. That's why the rejection rate for the Luftstreitkräfte is so high.